Wednesday, April 9, 2014

ART&DESIGN: Bryon Fitzpatrick - Ducati 900SS Canson Rendering

What you're viewing is known as a "Canson rendering" in the Industrial and Transportation Design world. Canson is simply the name of the company who makes the thick card stock paper that comes in a wide range of colors. Rendering on this paper was a flashy technique used by designers back before the days of digital illustration. Concepts were drawn by hand throughout the design development process. This meant any minor changes, tweaks, or screw ups required you to start all over again from scratch. There was no Ctrl+Z or layer toggling and some renderings, specifically of intricate products like motorcycles, could be a full day's work.

The main difference between a Canson rendering and a rendering on white paper has to do with the way you're communicating lighting. When sketching on white paper the white of the paper is representing your brightest light source within the composition. This means that you're essentially adding shadow to the composition until your level of desired realism is achieved. Rendering on Canson paper allows you to begin at a mid-tone and work outwards in either tonal direction to add high and low lighting.

I had the pleasure of taking Visual Communication classes under Bryon Fitzpatrick at the College for Creative Studies a couple years before he retired. You can read more about is vast breadth of work and experience, as well as purchase this rendering, over at The Machine Files.